The game of poker is highly popular and widely enjoyed both in private settings and in commercial gambling establishments (i.e., casinos). The game is traditionally played using playing cards. The playing cards typically contain 52 cards with numerical ranks from 2 to 10 and pictorial cards of Jack, Queen, King, and Ace. In addition, some games utilize two additional cards (e.g., pokers). The Ace card can function as either a value equal to “11”, or as the number “1”. The playing cards are also organized into four suits, i.e., the spades, clubs, hearts, and diamonds varieties of each numerical and pictorial type of card.
The game is typically played by having each player draw (or be dealt) five cards for one game of play (otherwise known as “a play”). Each player studies the cards in his or her possession (i.e., the player's “hand”) to determine whether the hand contains a combination of cards that falls within one of several categories of ranked combinations. The categories of ranked combinations together comprise the “ranking system of hands.” This ranking system ranks the hands by assigning a highest value to one type of card combination and successively lowers values to other card combinations. A player that possesses a hand of highest value (i.e., of highest rank) for a play wins the play. Often, each play involves the placing of a wager by each player, either with playing chips, tender, or both.
The standard ranking system for poker typically comprises the following combinations ranked from highest to lowest value: a “royal flush” in which the hand contains an ace, king, queen, jack, and 10, all of the same suit; a “straight flush” in which the hand contains five consecutively-ranked cards (e.g., 10, 9, 8, 7, and 6), all of the same suit, but being different than the royal flush in card combination; a “four of a kind” in which the hand contains four cards of the same rank (e.g., four “nines” and one king) across the four suits; a “full house” (or “full boat”) in which the hand contains three cards of one rank and two cards of a different rank, regardless of suit (e.g., three “fives” and two “sevens”); a “flush” in which the hand contains all five cards of a single suit, regardless of card ranks (e.g., a “two,” “six,” “eight,” jack, and queen, all of clubs); a “straight” in which the hand contains five consecutively-ranked cards, regardless of suit (e.g., “seven of clubs,” “eight of diamonds,” “nine of clubs,” “ten of hearts,” and “jack of hearts”); a “three of a kind” in which the hand contains three cards of the same rank (e.g., three aces) across three suits; a “two pair” in which the hand contains a pair of one type of card and a pair of another type of card, regardless of suits (e.g., two “twos” and two “fours”); a “pair” (or “one pair”) in which the hand contains a pair of one type of card (e.g., two queens); and “nothing” (or “high card” or “no pair”) in which the hand does not contain any of the types of combinations described above.
There are numerous variations of the type of poker described above. For example, there are three-card and seven-card versions of poker. Some particularly popular poker variants include Draw Poker, Stud Poker, and community card poker. In Draw Poker variations (e.g., Five-Card Draw), players' hands are hidden and each player is provided the opportunity to replace their cards from cards remaining in the pack. In Stud Poker variations (e.g., Five-Card and Seven-Card Stud), players' hands are partially hidden and each player is dealt a predetermined number of cards that cannot be replaced. In community card poker variants (e.g., Texas hold 'em and Omaha hold 'em), players are allowed to match a certain number of cards set on the table (community cards) with a certain number of cards that a player possesses in order to make a best hand. The cards dealt to players in community card games are typically hidden (face down) from other players while community cards are seen by all players. The variations of poker above can be further varied by the rules governing winners and losers. For example, in the high-low split variant, the highest and lowest hands split the total amount wagered (i.e., the “pot”). In lowball poker, the lowest hand wins. In yet other poker variants, wild cards are added.
There is also a dice version of poker in which, typically, six-sided dice contain representations of six types of playing cards, i.e., typically ace, king, queen, jack, ten and nine. In one version, the poker dice lack suits, and thus, a “royal flush” or “straight flush” is not possible. In another version, the poker dice include suits wherein each die contains six types of playing cards and a number of different suits. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,919.
Numerous other dice games are highly popular, including, for example, Yahtzee and Kismet. In Yahtzee, five conventional six-sided dice (i.e., each die designating numbers one through six) are rolled by a player and a score is correlated to a particular repeat or pattern of numbers. For example, a hand having three or four of the dice showing the same number is assigned a score, which is the sum of all numbers shown by the rolled dice. Kismet utilizes conventional six-sided dice as above, except that each die possesses sides of different colors (e.g., ones and sixes are black, twos and fives are red, and threes and fours are green, on each die). The scoring in Kismet is similar to Yahtzee except that the colors allow for additional winning combinations. For example, in Kismet, two pairs of numbers having the same color (e.g., a pair of black ones and pair of black sixes, with the fifth die being any color or number) can be scored as a “four of a kind” in imitation of poker. Kismet can also imitate several other poker hands in similar fashion.
However, there would be added enjoyment in a game of dice, which simulates poker in an exciting and new manner by using an innovative game set of dice particularly constructed for this purpose.